A
company that hopes for a prosperous future must have a sound plan. In
the world of Sales and Marketing this is called Corporate Strategy. Corporate
Strategy is the overall direction of the company, defined by senior
management, that takes into consideration an assessment of the existing
capabilities of the company and external opportunities and threats. It
usually coincides with the immediate future fiscal period or it could be
developed with a longer-term view, such as a three-year plan. It is
important to understand the overall Corporate Strategy and its
relationship to sales and marketing. The Marketing Strategy works within
the direction provided by the overall Corporate Strategy of the company
and also interacts with other elements of the Corporate Strategy. Corporate Strategy is a combination of the following:
Senior Management Direction and Insights: This is provided by senior management based on their experiences and insights related to the business.
Corporate Product Strategy: This defines the products or services the company offers and the research and development efforts required to create them.
Corporate Marketing Strategy:
This defines how the company will target, position, market and sell the
planned products and defines metrics, targets and budgets for all
marketing activities.
Corporate Operations Strategy:
This defines how the company will manage operational activities,
manufacture its products and provide the corresponding customer support
and warranty.
Corporate Finance Strategy: This
defines how the company will manage its finances, attain funding and
financially sustain its operations. The Finance Strategy should include
forecasts and projections and summarize costs, income and investments.
Corporate Human Resource Strategy:
This maps the human resource capabilities within the company and
considers talent management and acquisition needs to sustain growth.
Here are the components of Corporate Strategy: Typically,
companies have existing documentation regarding their component
strategies. These must be considered in an integrated manner to define a
coherent Corporate Strategy. The level and complexity of documentation
for these strategies may vary depending on the size of the company and
the breadth of its product portfolio and geographic reach. If formal
documentation of these strategies is not available—for instance, as with
a start-up company—the teams involved in strategic planning should
consider the various strategies and decide on an overall Corporate
Strategy, which can then become a benchmark to execute future plans.
The SMstudy® Guide framework is a great help in this endeavor. Finalizing
the company’s Corporate Strategy can be a time-consuming and rigorous
exercise that requires inputs from multiple stakeholders, particularly
senior management. It is advisable to execute strategic planning
exercises at appropriate and specific time intervals, such as once or
twice a year, and then finalize a Corporate Strategy on which senior
management and the heads of strategy teams agree. Following this process
will help to ensure that the leadership team has coherently defined
goals and strategies that align with the overall strategic goals of the
organization. The Corporate Strategy can be divided into lower level
strategies depending on the complexity of the organization. For example,
the Corporate Strategy for an entire company can be divided into
strategies for each business unit or geographic region such as country,
state, or city, and then subdivided further into a Product or Brand
Strategy for each product or brand in a business unit or geographic
region. The Product or Brand Strategy is the lowest level in this
hierarchy. This illustrates the relationship between Corporate Strategy, Business Unit/Geographic Strategy and Product/Brand Strategy: Corporate
strategy is an umbrella under which many components of a company plan
for future profitability. When that umbrella operates at full force, the
forecast calls for raining money.
We recently read that “We are living in a post-advertising world.” The
claim was made by John Horsley, director of Digital Doughnut, a global
digital marketing community. Horsley should know, so we took notice.
Horsley
explained his claim in a LinkedIn group forum: “Conversations have
replaced campaigns, engagement trumps reach, and brands are no longer
built by above-the-line agencies, but at every touchpoint the business
has with its customers. And the thread that links all these elements is
social media.” This resonates with us at SMstudy. We have included a lot
about touchpoints, engagement and social media marketing in A Guide to the Sales and Marketing Body of Knowledge, also referred to as theSMstudy® Guide. Horsley
was using his claim to incite and invite members of the group to take
part in a survey being conducted to explore the current status of
companies and social media and contribute to his work “New Report:
Social Media’s Impact on Customer Experience.” He says “businesses
have been slow to respond, often hampered by outdated structures, siloed
thinking and a lack of strategic understanding.” Now, that really resonates with us because we wrote an entire book on Marketing Strategy as one of the six aspects covered in the SMstudy® Guide and we offer certifications in marketing strategy. His claim did not resonate so well with others, however. One group member commented, “Social
media channels are simply another way to touch someone, as is and
remains advertising. Effective communications usually consist of
multichannel or cross channel strategies.” We had to agree with several
points here. Our Digital Marketing book says, “Given the nature
of the online world, which is constantly evolving and expanding—new
channels are developing with greater frequency, and audiences are
continuously exploring new sources of online content—digital marketers
must regularly assess and reassess digital marketing channels for their
effectiveness and applicability in helping achieve the company’s overall
organizational goals and objectives.” Social media provide many opportunities for delivering messages that advertise. Within Marketing Strategy whole sections have been dedicated to planning and developing social media as well as other digital channels. The
term “posting” (as it is used in advertising) comes not from posting
mail but from a time when fences, street lamp poles, telephone posts and
any available urban wall space were festooned with advertisements for
products, shows, soon-to-arrive circuses and political candidates. When
the rampant postings got out-of-hand, a new posting appeared saying,
“Post No Bills.” Now, many marketing and advertising messages are being
posted online and in social media. Perhaps we should say we’re living in
a post-post-advertising world? Well … maybe not. Another commenter
added, “effective marketing communication is always a delicious idea
(whatever it might be) served on many different (multichannel) dishes.”
And that’s an idea we can relish. To get more insights about sales
and marketing, register for the free SMstudy subscription today
- http://smstudy.com/Subscription/Free-Subscription Acknowledgement: http://www.smstudy.com/
Channel performance measurement is a key
activity when a sales organization employs different types of channel
partners. In more complex multi-channel structures, it becomes even more
important due to the number of people, processes, and roles involved.
The performance of a channel can be measured across multiple dimensions.
The parameters that are measured usually are effectiveness, efficiency,
productivity, equity and profitability of the channel.
The various channels have different purposes in the value chain;
however, each task needs to support the overall corporate goals. As the
number of channel partners increases, it is difficult to ensure that the
channel partners are performing their specific roles as effectively as
required. For example, the goal of a business might be to increase the
number of strategic accounts. However, in order to gather maximum
possible commission, channel partners might be engaged in getting the
maximum number of accounts possible with total disregard towards
prioritizing the acquisition of strategic accounts. It is therefore
important to audit the channel partners and incentivize them for
activities that are aligned with the corporate goals. The channel
performance should also be judged on the ability to fulfill given tasks.
A few carefully chosen metrics can give a good indication of the
performance of each channel. The channel performance measurement is primarily a four-step process.
Define the Sales Objectives
Determine Channel Performance Metrics
Set Channel Partner Targets
Manage Channel Performance
1. Define Sales Objectives The first step in channel performance measurement is to define the
sales objectives for the company. These objectives are outlined and
discussed in sales meetings to ensure a shared understanding
between members of the marketing and sales teams.
2. Determine Channel Performance Metrics Evaluating the performance of a distribution channel depends largely
on the agreed upon performance metrics. Choosing the right number and
type of performance metrics can help to monitor and improve the
performance of channel partners. These metrics provide an understanding
of how well the channel partner is doing in reaching its performance
targets. Though it is possible to evaluate a channel on hundreds of
performance metrics, this would make reporting and analysis of the
performance a cumbersome job. When determining channel performance
metrics, a key performance driver, such as sales or units sold, should
be chosen to identify and measure the most important tasks. A series of
performance metrics are then decided based on the key performance
driver.
3. Set Channel Partner Targets After overall sales objectives are defined, it is important to assign
specific targets to each of the channel partners to ensure they are in
alignment with the overall objectives. Properly set targets provide a
benchmark to measure channel success, monitor performance, and take
corrective action to meet expectations. Each channel partner has a
specific role towards fulfilling the overall sales objectives.
Performance targets should be set to reflect the channel partner’s
contribution to the overall objectives
4. Manage Channel Performance This is the final step in channel performance measurement. It uses
the agreed upon goals, assigned performance targets, and identified
performance metrics to manage channel performance on an on-going basis
and to identify the performance shortfalls of the channel partners.
During this step, management gains an understanding of the strengths and
weaknesses of each channel. Management can then take corrective action
to ensure efficient performance of the channel. The success of a channel and its efficiency are determined by the
efficiency of channel intermediaries in delivering goods and services to
customers and the quality of services offered in the process.
Developing a comprehensive marketing plan that provides clear and
concise direction about marketing activities and strategy is critical to
the organization's success. To learn more about Channel Performance Measurement, visit www.smstudy.com
